


Bonding time

by Magnonette



Series: A lot can happen to Snufkin [10]
Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Adventure, Family Bonding, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Sort Of, secret trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25577698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnonette/pseuds/Magnonette
Summary: MoominMamma considers Snufkin as a second son but she could never tell him that, not wanting to scare him away.She would love to spend more time with him and she feels like he feels the same but is just too shy to ask.When an opportunity finally strikes, she takes it and manages to get some quality time with her new son.
Series: A lot can happen to Snufkin [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1441966
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hey, hey! It's me! Back at you again with another fic :3
> 
> This one will be really short but it's a good one believe me ;P

MoominMamma had always thought of Snufkin as her own son, ever since she met him on the date of the comet’s passing, arriving with her son and his new friends. She wasn’t sure how he would feel if he knew this, but she couldn’t help it.

Snufkin was an experienced traveler and someone that was very independent, but for her, he was still a child, she knew he didn’t consider himself much as a child but he still wasn’t much older than her son. As much as he was very mature for his age, he also liked to be silly around the others while they played together.

She didn’t got to spend much time with him, as she was always doing house chores or, when she was just knitting peacefully, they were all outside on another of their adventures or just playing around. The only few times Snufkin and her had spent together were when he’d stay for lunch and insist on helping her with washing the dishes. Usually, those moments were spent in silence, sometimes a few words, very quiet and respectful, but mostly a shared silence.

She had the feeling that he wanted to spend more time with her, talk to her more, as she could see him glancing at her sometimes when he thought she wasn’t looking, he seemed hesitant but would always turn back and go on his way. She wanted it too, but she didn’t want to force him either, or to look too obvious.

There had been one time when she’d prepared herself to go on a journey to find some nice berries to make a nice cake for her family and Snufkin had decided to accompany her, not that she minded much, using the excuse that he wasn’t really part of the family when she’d told him she wanted to do this without her family. Of course, she would have argued that he was part of the family, but she knew he wouldn’t like it much and she was happy at the thought of spending more time with him without anybody else around. It had been such a great time, a small adventure, just the two of them. Snufkin had fished for them and let her cook it, enjoying her cooking for him and him alone for the first time and she’d showed him the way to a new, hidden beautiful place, and new and exciting ways to get to it.

It had been so much fun that she’d promised herself to find a way to reiterate the experience again. She’d have to find a way to not make it obvious for Snufkin that she wanted to spend time with him and pretend to need to do something that he could help her with, but she would managed.

Eventually, she managed to get it to work. She prepared herself for another trip to another hidden places from her grandmother’s recipe book. She could see Snufkin coming to the house to greet her as she fussed. As she’d predicted, he asked what she was doing and where she was planning on going as he noticed her backpack.

After explaining that she needed some ingredients from another place from her grandmother's recipe book, Snufkin asked her, this time actually asking before doing anything, if she’d like him to come with her, using as his excuse that he wanted to go on a small trip soon anyway because he needed to move a little as his mumrik blood was itching for adventure. Of course, MoominMamma was delighted and agreed to have him come along, knowing that Snufkin wasn’t actually needing that much to travel and was more interested in coming along with her to spend more time with her with a good excuse for it.

He left her to finish her preparation, letting her to make more notes for MoominPappa and Moomin with instructions and indications on how to cook and where to find everything, and went to pack his things.

When MoominMamma was done with her preparations, she shouldered her backpack and made her way out, meeting Snufkin on the bridge where he’d been waiting for her with his own pack. She smiled at him, a smile that he returned shyly as he hopped off the rail of the bridge, and they started to walk together.

As they walked, MoominMamma silently observed Snufkin. The last time they’d gone on a trip together, she’d been too focused on her objectif to really pay more attention to the boy’s demeanor. He looked quite happy as he walked, she noticed, but also seemed a little tense. She knew she would have to make sure he relaxed along the way, but as for now, they could only walk in a nice peaceful silence, listening to the birdsong above them.

After half a day of walking, they came across a rocky path on the ledge of a cliff. Snufkin took the front, slowly making his way on the path while making sure MoominMamma was following close behind him. MoominMamma meanwhile followed silently.

The rocks were very slippery and unstable, if any of them moved under their feet they could lead the both of them to a nasty tumble down the rocky cliff. She had to be really careful as she walked on them, but she couldn’t help but look at Snufkin as she did, worried that he might fall and hurt himself.

She was so focused on Snufkin that she didn’t noticed when she walked on a big rock that moved from under her. Suddenly, she could feel herself losing her balance. Then, she was falling to the side. Her yelp got stuck in her throat as she realized what was happening.

Then, small paws were on her arm, pulling her up, small claws digging into her skin under her fur. She could only realize that Snufkin was trying to pull her back before she felt him falling with her, unable to pull her weight with his smaller and weaker strength. Thankfully, this moment was enough for her to recover enough to be able to start throwing her other paw to the cliff’s side, trying to grab whatever she could as her other paw took hold of Snufkin’s arm as he was falling down with her.

For a moment, they were falling, hitting rocks after rocks and flailing to grab anything. Then, finally, they stopped, MoominMamma finally able to grab a rock and stop their fall. She took notice of the weight on her other arm as she tried to pull them back up.

After a good bit of manoeuvring, she managed to get them back to a relatively stable ground where she help Snufkin sat before sitting next to him, both of them panting heavily. They stayed there, struggling to get their breath back for a long moment.

When MoominMamma finally recovered enough to breath somewhat normally, she looked up at Snufkin to evaluate the damages done to him. Snufkin was still struggling to breath, one paw clutching at his smock over his heart, his head was facing down and his eyes were closed as he gasped for air, his hat gone.

MoominMamma could see the bruises and scratches on Snufkin’s head and arms, small rips on his smock letting her see them, small red lines on his pale skin. His legs were in the same state, scraped and bruised, trousers covered in dust and small rips. She was worried about every single bruise on his skin, but she felt even worse when she noticed the blood sliding down on the side of his head.

She didn’t even think. In a second, she was at Snufkin’s side, cupping his cheeks and looking him over.

Snufkin started when she grabbed him, still trying to breath. She apologized absently as she checked him over, looking very intently at the wound on the side of his head. It wasn’t too deep but it was quite long and bleeding a lot.

Without thinking, she took her bag and took out the first aid kit she’d brought, immediately settling on cleaning the wound. Snufkin, surprisingly, didn’t protest against her fussing, letting her work while he tried to calm himself down. She made quick work of his wound, wrapping it up with some bandages, before gently taking his paws to examine the damages done to them. She took care of every scraps and bruises on his body, bandaging tightly one of his wrist as it seemed to have been sprained in the fall.

When she was done, she cupped his cheeks again, looking at him with a gentle smile. He’d calmed down by now, and had left her to take care of him without saying a word. He gave her a small smile before slowly, painfully lifting his paws to take hold of hers. He drew them away from his face, squeezing them gently before he reached out to the first aid kit with one paw, the other still holding Mamma’s. He then took everything he needed and started to clean Mamma’s wrists, where his claws had left marks, still silent. MoominMamma tried protesting but Snufkin just didn’t listen to her, continuing to clean before wrapping her wrists with bandages despite her telling him it wasn’t necessary. She didn’t try to stop him, despite still telling him he didn’t had to take care of that, that she could do it herself and he should rest. Snufkin made sure to take care of Mamma’s arms and legs as well, as they were also scrapped up, before finally sitting back down in front of her.

MoominMamma thanked him, not saying anything about how much he’d been shaking all the while. She could tell how upset he was, but didn’t try anything yet, letting him rest for a moment.

After a moment of silence, the two of them resting from their fall, Snufkin looked around them, Mamma watching him. Then, he stood up, not without troubles.

“We should get to more stable ground.” He simply said, reaching toward Mamma to help her up.

She accepted his paw, making sure not to pull too much on it as she got up. She expected Snufkin to let go of her as soon as she was up on her feet, but he didn’t, holding on to her paw tightly as he started to walk, slowly and shakily. She followed silently, this time being extra careful that she wouldn’t stumble again and hurt them more than they already were.

It took some times, but they finally reached the end of the rocky cliff and found their way to a nice, safe, meadow. They both set their backpacks down on the grass, MoominMamma looking around them. She noticed that Snufkin was very still, shaking, in front of her, his head down.

Then, his arms were around her, head buried into her chest as he held onto her tightly, shakily. She quickly recovered from her shock to wrap her arms around Snufkin, resting her snout onto his head and closing her eyes. She could hear his breath hitching quietly into her fur, something soaking the fur of her chest. She silently started to stroke his hair soothingly, her other paw rubbing small circles onto his back.

“Please, be more careful.” She heard his muffled, wet, voice say. “I almost lost you.”

“I’m sorry.” She whispered into his hair. “Thank you for saving me.” She added, her voice letting out how proud she was of him. “You’ve been very brave. I’m so proud of you. What would I do without you.”

Snufkin chuckled wetly into her fur, rubbing his cheek against her chest and squeezing her slightly.

“GrandMother really should find easier paths.” He said with a smile in his voice. “We could have hurt ourselves much more than that.”

MoominMamma chuckled, nodding against his head and humming in response. Slowly, she pulled away from Snufkin, just enough to be able to see his face, tilting it with one of her paws to make him look up at her. She smiled at him, watching as he smiled back, his wet face lighting up a little.

Then, she slowly drew him down to the ground. Snufkin obliged, sitting with her. She made him sit in her lap, cradling him against her chest again. He happily let himself be held, resting his head against her.

They stayed like that for a long moment, just holding onto each other, letting go slowly of the fear that they’d felt as they fell. Their body were getting more painful as time passed and their adrenaline slowly died down.

Eventually, they had to let go of each other and start setting up camp, knowing that they couldn’t walk much until night fell and deciding that this nice meadow would be a good place to rest. They both knew that they’d be very sore the next morning, but they couldn’t do much about it right now.

They worked together to set up the tent, Snufkin insisting on MoominMamma sleeping inside his tent with him, and building a campfire as the night crept in. MoominMamma, thankfully, had prepared a nice lunch for them, so they didn’t have to search for food and could just sit by the fire and enjoy the sunset as they ate in silence, Snufkin not leaving MoominMamma’s side, leaning against her.

That night, as they were sleeping, MoominMamma woke up to find that Snufkin had crawled his way to her and was clinging to her in his sleep. She smiled fondly at him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him closer carefully as to not wake him up. She could feel him relax in her arms as she went back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)  
> I hope you enjoyed the first part. Next part will come next week.
> 
> Man, I love to have Snufkin crawl to Mamma while he sleeps, I want more of those two bonding.  
> Also, Mamma worrying so much about her son that she gets in danger, whoops. She was lucky Snufkin reacted fast :3


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here the second part of this beautiful fic!
> 
> Enjoy!

The next morning, MoominMamma and Snufkin slowly got up to eat a quick breakfast. They were very sore and tired, like they knew they’d be. Snufkin seemed to have troubles with his head, squinting as he look at the fire while MoominMamma boiled some water to make them some pain tea.

“Is your head alright?” She asked knowingly as she put the leaves in the water.

Snufkin said nothing for a moment, seeming to debate with himself, before finally nodding slowly.

“Is it hurting?” MoominMamma asked, leaving the tea to infused and making her way to Snufkin to sit in front of him. “How are you feeling?”

She slowly reached out, letting him see her before doing anything, and started to unwrap the bandages on his head to examine the wound. She frowned as she got a look at it. It had stopped bleeding but it looked like the wound had reopened during the night. She got to cleaning it again as Snufkin answered her question.

“I- It’s pounding.” He admitted. “I’m a little dizzy but I’ll be fine. It’s not the first time, I lived through worse than that.” He tried to wave it off, only receiving another frown from the older moomin.

“Maybe we should go back home…” She pondered as she wrapped a clean bandage around his head again. “We can try again another time.”

“No.” Snufkin refused gently. “You said we were close to it before it happened, didn’t you?” He pointed out. “I’m fine, really. We can get what you need and then we’ll go back home. If it’s anything like last time, maybe we’ll find an easier way to go home.”

“I guess you’re right.” She sighed as she put away the first aid kit. “Alright, but tell me if you need to rest, okay?”

“I will.” Snufkin agreed.

MoominMamma smiled at him fondly before cupping his cheeks and tugging his head towards her and down to plant a moominkiss on his forehead. He smiled back at her sheepishly as she pulled back, caressing his cheeks with her thumbs gently before letting go of him to get back to the tea.

After they both drank their tea and packed everything again, they continued on their way, albeit slower than before as their bodies were quite sore. MoominMamma made sure to keep her eyes on Snufkin, examining him to verify if he was really alright or if she should pretend to need a break so he could rest. She knew he wouldn’t admit it if he felt like he should rest, just shrugging it off and asking to continue, so she had to keep watch for any sign coming from him.

Thankfully, the place indicated by grandmother’s recipe book wasn’t far from where they’d had their tumble and they were able to get there by the beginning of the afternoon.

It was a beautiful clearing, flowers everywhere and butterflies flying around it. They took a minute to get in the sight in front of them before setting to work. MoominMamma intended on picking up some mushrooms that grew up on the trees around the clearing, they were rumored to be particularly delicious and she wanted to try a recipe from her grandmother that required a bunch of them.

MoominMamma offered to Snufkin to sit and rest while she worked on finding some and picking them, but, of course, Snufkin shook her offer off and started searching as well. MoominMamma had no choice but to let him help her, not wanting to make him feel trapped by forcing him to rest while she worked around him.

With the both of them searching, they made quick work of it, filling up a full bag of mushrooms. Snufkin was ready to start walking back but MoominMamma, seeing that he seemed to be pale and tired, pretended to be tired from the search and to want to rest a little in the nice clearing.

“We’ll have to find your hat on the way back.” MoominMamma pondered as they sat against a tree trunk, facing the clearing. “I’m sure we can find it if we are careful on the way down.”

“There is no need. I can live without it.” Snufkin tried to reassure. “It’s just a hat, I’ll find another one.”

“Nonsense! I’m sure we can find it.” MoominMamma contested. “I know how much you hate knew things. It would be silly to not go find it when we know where it must be.”

“But-” Snufkin tried to keep himself composed but wasn’t quite successful in hiding his worry. “It’s dangerous.” He said, swallowing hard.

“It’ll be fine.” MoominMamma reassured, ever so confident. “We’ll just have to be careful and nothing bad will happen.”

“B- But what if you fall again?” Snufkin said, voice trembling as he couldn’t hide how much he worried anymore. “It’s too dangerous!”

“Don’t worry, dear.” She replied quietly, pulling him close to her and wrapping her arms around him. She knew Snufkin wasn’t one for physical contact but that he wouldn’t mind after what happened the previous day. “I’ll be fine. We will make sure to go slowly and to be careful and everything will be fine.” She whispered into his hair as he returned the embrace, burying his face into her fur once again.

They stayed like that for a moment, MoominMamma hugging Snufkin and listening to his breathing as he slowly relaxed against her. She knew that their fall had scared him a lot and left him quite shaken. She felt a little guilty over it, if she was being honest, as it was her fault, but she couldn’t erased what had happened, all she could do was reassure her son and make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

Eventually, she noticed that Snufkin’s breath was slow and even. She looked down to find that he’d fallen asleep against her, safe in her warm arms. She smiled fondly, running a paw through his hair, trying her best to silence any awed sound as he started to purr slightly.

She decided that it was best to let him sleep, knowing that he’d been tired and that his head injury would probably get better if he could sleep some more. She continued to stroke his hair for a moment, looking around her at the beautiful flowers coating the ground around them and all over the clearing. Then, an idea came to her.

After a while, Snufkin finally woke up, a little groggy. He leaned back, letting go of MoominMamma, and stretched, yawning. He rubbed at his eyes, sleepily apologizing for falling asleep on MoominMamma.

MoominMamma chuckled, waving off his apology to point out how cute he was as he slept. She chuckled some more as this made Snufkin blush and look away. As he wasn’t looking, she took the occasion to slid a flower crown on his head.

Snufkin was startled and looked up to see what it was. He took the crown in his paws to examine it before putting it back on his head and, hesitantly, hugging MoominMamma again while thanking her. She could feel his face burning against her, his blush too strong for him to hide. 

She knew it was a good sign, from what she’d noticed during the time they spent with him, she could tell that he wasn’t used to receiving anything from anyone, even less from an adult like her. He’d gotten used to Moomin offering him crown flowers that he’d made while they were chilling in a meadow in the Valley or sea shells that he’d picked up on the beach, but he’d never received anything from anyone else.

She wanted to tell him how she considered him as a son, wanted to show him how much he meant to her, but she didn’t want to overwhelm him, so the crown flower would have to do it. It looked like it worked as he quickly had to rub at his eyes as he pulled away. She smiled at him, not mentioning how his eyes were still watering and how his face hold a small smile that he was trying really hard to supress to keep his neutral expression.

To help him relax, she stood up, brushing off some dirt from her apron, and reached a paw toward him to help him up. He accepted it gratefully, wincing slightly as he got up. They both picked their bag back up and started walking back.

They were still very sore and the night was coming quite quickly, but they knew they could make it to the clearing from before and rest there again, so they kept walking, even after the sun went down, until they reached it.

The night was quite uneventful, MoominMamma had been thoughtful enough to take more supplies in case they didn’t have time to find food for themselves and prepared a quick meal for the both of them as they sat by the fire. She’d charged Snufkin to take care of setting up the tent while she’d worked on the fire and on finding everything she needed to cook so he wouldn’t argue with her doing everything.

After eating, they’d settled back into the tent. Snufkin had taken off the flower crown and put it on his pack at the foot of the tent so it wouldn’t be damaged as they slept. They fell asleep easily, exhaustion from the day’s walk and the soreness in their body helping a lot with it. 

MoominMamma woke up during the night. She didn’t know what had woken her up, but she took the occasion to check on her son, rolling over to look at him. Snufkin was still peacefully sleeping next to her. She noticed that his blanket was rolled over his legs, probably accidentally kicked in Snufkin’s sleep, so she carefully leaned toward him to pull it back over him. He seemed to appreciate it, face immediately relaxing more and a small, content smile appearing on his lips. Smiling fondly at him, MoominMamma settled back under her own blanket, still facing him, and went back to sleep.

The next day started much the same as the previous, MoominMamma made them some tea for their sore bodies after they had breakfast and they started to make their way back.

It wasn’t long before they reached the rocky cliff again.

Snufkin stopped in front of it, looking down at the rocks blankly. MoominMamma knew that he must have been scared, thinking about what had happened before and worried that it might happen again. So, to help reassure him, she reached out, offering her paw to him. Snufkin looked between her and her paw for a moment before finally taking it.

MoominMamma led the way, holding reassuringly onto Snufkin’s paw, down the rocks. They were slow and careful, stopping from time to time to make sure they were fine. It took some time and manoeuvring but, after a while, they reached the bottom, where the rocks had fallen two days ago.

The ground was stable there, the rocks less slippery, so MoominMamma let go of Snufkin’s paw and they started to look for his hat. They had to move some of the rocks to check if it had been buried under them.

After a while, MoominMamma finally found it, buried under a big rock, and shook it to get it back in shape. She went back to Snufkin, waving it in victory. Snufkin smiled back at her, thanking her as she took his flower crown, that he’d put back on his head in the morning, to put the hat back over his hair. She then slid the crown over it so it rested in the brim and looked back with a satisfied smile. Snufkin hid his face under his hat, still thanking her.

With that taken care off, they got back on the path and started to make their way back towards the Valley. It wouldn’t be long before they were back home now.

MoominMamma was silently disappointed that she couldn’t get to spend longer alone with Snufkin, feeling as though he’d finally got to let himself enjoy her company and accept her love and care. But, even as she’d like to get to enjoy more time with him, to hug him and hold onto him for longer, she also wanted him to be able to rest. She knew he wouldn’t accept to stay at MoominHouse, but, at least, he could rest in his tent nearby the house.

She was startled out of her thoughts as she felt a paw slid into hers as they walked. She looked down at their paws and up at Snufkin, who was looking away and hiding his face under the brim of his hat. She smiled warmly and squeezed his paw gently.

Maybe now, he would allow her to show more affection towards him.

Soon, as the night was starting to fall, they reached the end of the forest, in front of Moominhouse. They made their way down the hill and towards the bridge.

MoominMamma was sure that Snufkin would excuse himself there and head to his usual camping spot, but, he surprised her by continuing to walk alongside her towards the house.

“Can I stay tonight?” She heard him ask shyly.

“Why, of course!” She said with a big smile, squeezing the paw that was still holder hers.

She didn’t have the occasion to say anything more as they heard voices calling their names. Moomin and MoominPappa ran to them, greeting them, first happily then crying out with concern as they saw the bandages and bruises on them.

They were rushed into the house and sat down on the couch where they were served some warm tea. Then, they were fussed over, Moomin and MoominPappa worriedly looking them over to make sure they were okay and asking her what had happened and if they needed anything.

MoominMamma took great pleasure in recounting their adventure, praising Snufkin as she recalled how he was quick to catch her arm as she fell and how long he managed to keep her from falling. Snufkin was hiding under his hat, seeming to slowly sink on himself more and more as she continued to praise him and his bravery and from how Moomin and MoominPappa reacted to the news, praising him and Moomin looking at him with stars in the eyes and even more respect than before.

After some more talk and the reassurance that they were fine, just sore and tired, they finally went to bed. Snufkin convinced to stay with Moomin instead of sleeping in the guest bedroom, and went to bed with him first, leaving MoominMamma and Pappa to talk a little longer.

Mamma recounted some more details that she hadn’t wanted to tell in front of Snufkin as to not make him feel uncomfortable. She told her husband how he seemed to open up a little more during the trip and how he even made a move to hold her paw on the way back. MoominPappa gave her a moominkiss as he praised her on taking good care of their new son, and with that, they made their way to their own beds.

Before going to sleep, MoominMamma quietly made her way up the stairs and to Moomin’s room. She crept the door opened and made her silent way to the bed. She looked down with a fond smile at her sons sleeping peacefully under the cover, Moomin’s arms wrapped around Snufkin and the mumrik’s face slightly buried in the fur of Moomin’s chest, a content and peaceful smile on his face. She couldn’t resist but to run a paw through Snufkin’s hair and give her boys a quick moominkiss on the forehead before leaving them to rest and seeking her own bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> This one is the shortest I wrote yet but I like it because it's just sweet bonding time between MoominMamma and her adoptive Son Snuf :)
> 
> I'll be back soon with a new fic, although I don't know which one yet since I've got a few started but none is finished yet, whoops ^^'  
> But yeah, I'll be back next week probably, if i don't forget with a knew one. It's probably gonna be some angst again because I'm a sucker for good angst ;P so, be prepared :3


End file.
